Siddhartha Shankar Ray was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77), Union Minister of Education (1971–72), Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and Indian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was, at one point, the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.

The Minister of Education, formerly the Minister of Human Resources Development (1985-2020), is the head of the Ministry of Education and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India.